


Fresh Start

by Storytimewithcort



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Adopted Children, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Marvel Universe, New York City, Single Parents, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 02:30:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18188609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storytimewithcort/pseuds/Storytimewithcort
Summary: Single Mother Reader who Recently gets a job working for Tony and Pepper. Trying to juggle being a nanny for a high profile family while still taking care of her own son, and the mysterious alien who reads books on the balcony.





	1. Chapter 1, Job Interview

You approached the tall tower with a bit of anxiety, it was one of the most imposing places in the city. Even if many people saw the tower as a sign of hope and safety, it still looked rather imposing to you. You clutched your son’s hand tightly as you entered the lobby. Despite the inhabitants of the tower being considered heroes, you still figured this place wasn’t the safest for a four year old. If you had another option you wouldn’t bring him along, but it seemed to be the only way. Plus, you were going to meet with Tony Stark, his wife and their newborn child. If it was a safe enough environment for their child, then maybe yours would be fine too. You had spoke with Pepper this morning and she insisted you bring your son along. You really needed this job, so you held his little hand in your own as you rode the elevator up and up. 

He hummed along to the elevator music and you couldn’t help but smile. At least he was enjoying himself and didn’t notice your nerves. When the lift chimed to signal your arrival, you braced yourself the best you could. 

Meeting the Starks actually went very well. You immediately hit it off with Pepper and she was so sweet to your son. You were also surprised to find out your sense of humor lined up with Tony’s extremely well. Most importantly the three month old in need of a nanny was an angel. It took all of two minutes for the little one to snuggle into your arms and fall asleep after being handed to you.

You came into this interview needing this job, but you quickly realized you also wanted the job immensely. The family was pleasantly understanding and the baby was adorable. The nursery and play room set up in the tower were both unbelievable. Beyond the best money could buy. There was also a kitchenette next door to the playroom stocked with anything you could ever dream of wanting for yourself or a baby. 

Most importantly your son thought Pepper was a princess and you always trusted your son’s intuition. 

Pepper seemed rather excited by the end of your interview and asked you if you could hang out for a few minutes while she spoke with Tony alone. Taking this as a good sign you agreed. They showed you to a large open common room up on the next floor before disappearing into an office.

You were so caught up in admiring yet another room of this massive building that was expertly designed and decorated, that you didn’t notice you were not alone in the room. Your son was the first to notice the man sitting in a chair by the window, book in hand and paying you an equal amount of nonexistent attention. Your son pulled his little hand away from your own and ran to the man with excitement.

“Snake!” He called out, pointing in the man’s direction. 

Turning a moment too late, unable to reach out and grab him, “Jonas! You can’t run off! And you can’t just call people names! It’s rude-" 

You words fall short as the man looks up from his book at the noise you’ve both caused. His eyes catch yours and you suck in a small breath. He’s gorgeous beyond compare. You can’t help but get a bit lost in the sea of colors in his eyes. Something about him is familiar, but you cannot quite place it. He studies you for a moment before dropping his gaze down to your son.

"Snake!” Jonas chimes again, pointing to the book in the man’s hand. The book had a picture of what you assumed to be a battle ax with a white snack curling around the handle. It read ‘Norse Mythology’. The man looked at the cover of his book before smiling at your son. 

“A snake indeed. Do you like snakes?” He asked with a soft and charming voice.

Jonas nodding happily while making a hissing noise in his best snake impression. The man laughed lightly and you stood there watching them, from a few steps away, oddly entranced by the scene. 

Suddenly the book floated up above the man’s hand just a inch or two before it spun and transformed into a small white snake just like its cover. It hovered there for a moment as your son cackled with laughter. He reached out for the snake but as soon as he touched what should have been smooth scale it turned back into the book and fell into the man’s hand. 

Jonas looked to you then back to man with wide eyed excitement, “Mama! He made a snake!" 

"I see that buddy,” You said looking back at the man who caught your eyes again. “That’s really amazing.” 

“A simple illusion.” He noted, as if it truly was a mundane task. You gawk at him. Perhaps it wasn’t much for him, but it was truly impressive to you. 

Before you can say anything else Tony and Pepper come back into the room this time being followed by two other men. A tall strong looking fellow with dirty blonde hair and someone you actually did recognize. Dr. Banner had given a few guest lectures at your university and even if he didn’t teach anything related to your major, you had sat in on two of his talks.

“Y/n, it seems that my wife loves you and I’ve learned to follow her wishes. So..” Tony said as you looked back towards him. 

“Would you be our daughter’s nanny?” Pepper smiled.

“Yes!” You answer immediately. A repetitive 'Yes!’ Echoing from behind you as Jonas mimics your excitement.

“Excellent, care to join us for a minute? ” Tony gestures towards the office they had just exited. 

You follow behind pulling Jonas with you despite his pleas for staying with 'Mr. Snake’. You noticed each of the new men smiled at you as you followed Tony down the hall. 

You discussed the job more in detail for maybe an hour as Pepper snuggled a sleepy babe. Like most newborns however, she was a little ticking time bomb and she soon woke with loud cry as she determined it was time to eat yet again. Tony saw you down the hall to the large elevator while talking about a good day to start your duties. 

As you walked through the large open room again, you took note of the man from earlier doing his best to read his book and ignore the strong looking man who was now sitting next to him and talking to him as if he had the man’s full attention. 

As the elevator rings to announce its arrival, Jonas turns and waves “Goodbye Mr. Snake!” Before hopping into the large elevator. 

The man looks up and nods with a confused little smile before you disappear behind the sliding door. 

Once the door was shut, Tony turned to return to Pepper. Thor elbowed Loki in the side and snickered, “Mr. Snake, huh?”

“Apparently.” Loki mused, still looking at the elevator door. 

“I like it! Can I call you that too?” Thor added still amused. 

Loki looked to his brother and answered flatly, “No.”


	2. Chapter 2, My Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone’s favorite ol’ AU where we forget Infinity War ever happened! Loki and Thor are living with the Avengers because why not. Reader is hired to work for Tony and Pepper, and she and her son soon meet Loki. Etc Etc Etc - chapter 2, Reader explains a bit more about her and Jonas’ life, Loki is awestruck.
> 
> me: https://storytimewithcort.tumblr.com/

Since starting your job as nanny, you split your time between watching the infant at Tony and Pepper’s home and at the tower. Both places had their advantages. You liked how serene the house was and how while the baby napped, had an chance to play with Jonas with out having to worry about the more explosive noises that occurred sometimes at the tower. The tower was actually a safer place than you expected it to be despite the colorful characters you’ve met and how they occasionally made quite the ruckus when training with each other. The tower was also nice because if you needed Pepper or Tony they were always around somewhere nearby. 

You were still undecided if this counted as a positive or negative, but the tower also meant you got to see more of ‘Mr. Snake’ as Jonas still insisted on calling him. You had learned by now his name was Loki. Unfortunately with that introduction you finally placed why he looked so familiar. While not living in New York at the time, you obviously had heard quite a lot about the events that occurred involving Loki a few years back. At first you couldn’t grasp why he was now living at Tony’s complex or why everyone else in the tower with the exception of Thor seemed to pay him no mind. The weirdest thing to you was, he didn’t frighten you like you had expected once you knew who was was. He remained fairly quiet like he was that first day you met him. He was also always extremely polite despite being standoffish. And Jonas adored him, which was typically your indicator of a good person. Thor had told you the story from the attack on New York to now, with out you even asking for it. You realized quickly that Thor was definitely leaving gaps in the story, but figured it was their business and if nothing else you simply appreciated that you understood the situation much better now. 

The two of you had interacted a few times now. He was always kind to Jonas with some little illusion trick ready to make Jonas squeal with laughter. Although he was usually pretty formal, occasionally when he was in company of Thor as well, he would be extremely witty and had you snickering with amusement.

This particular Tuesday afternoon, a few weeks into your job, you were packing up your bag in the kitchenette next to the playroom. You had just finished for the day and for once didn’t have a plan until a couple hours from now when you were meeting up with your mother. She was visiting New York and insisted on taking Jonas with her to see some of the more cliché tourist attractions. You felt out of place not having him with you but were determined to find something relaxing to do for the next two hours. You slung your bag over your shoulder as you walked down the hallway towards the elevator. The sight of a large balcony caught your eye. Tony had told you that it was okay to use any resources the tower had to offer as long as your stayed out of potentially dangerous Avenger areas. So you figured he wouldn’t mind if you lounged on the balcony. 

It was a gorgeous day. As soon as you stepped outside you were greeted by a warm sun and smiled to yourself. You pulled a chair over to the railing over looking the city and took a seat. You had to admire the sight of the city beneath you. It looked so tiny below you yet so large as it stretched out as far as you could see. 

Loki wandered down stairs in hope of finding somewhere quieter than the main common room where Steve and Tony were having a disagreement over what he considered nonsense. He noticed you sitting alone on the balcony and was intrigued by the sight of you alone. He hadn’t ever seen you with out at least one child in your arms or attached to your hip. Giving into his curiosity, he opened the door to the balcony and joined you. 

Looking up from your daydream you see Loki approach another chair and take a seat. He nodded at you in a sort of greeting. You were a little perplexed by his presence but when you noticed he was holding another book about Norse Mythology, different from before, you couldn’t help but question him. 

“Why the mythology books? Aren’t you exactly what the Nords wrote about? You should know all the stories." 

He hummed a bit before answering, "I like to see how immensely wrong you human authors are. Each book has what is supposed to be the same stories of my family, yet each story is different and each one highly inaccurate." 

"And that amuses you?” You asked, a bit amused yourself. 

“Something to pass the time” he responded, he looks down at the book and you expect him to start reading and ignore you, but he speaks up again. “No little fellow today?”

“My mother is in town, offered to watch him for the afternoon.” You shrug your shoulders. “I think she feels a bit guilty for not approving of me taking him in at first.”

Loki looks up and cocks his head slightly, “Taking him in?”

You didn’t expect to talk about this with anyone here, except maybe Pepper someday, but somehow didn’t mind discussing it with Loki. Something was oddly comforting about how he was looking at you. “Jonas isn’t mine. I mean he’s mine through and through, but not biologically.” You paused, most people didn’t really understand this story, or they found it sad yet uninteresting. Loki however, seemed like he was actually was listening intently. 

“When I was living in Chicago I worked for this agency that did social work, family planning, things like that. I was a social worker, I worked a lot with families who needed financial help, some who had drug issues. One night I was leaving late, fairly dark out. When I was leaving for the evening, I literally tripped over a box. A box with a one month old inside. Honestly. Something straight out of a sad movie, right? Anyway, the cops found the mother, she was just a kid. Barely nineteen, in love with this older man who promised her the world until she was pregnant. Then all he cared about was keeping the secret affair from his wife. And unfortunately when he declared he didn’t want the baby, she decided she didn’t want him either.” You didn’t miss the extremely sad look that took over his face as he listened.

“I took the baby in that first night, what else could I do? I contacted the authorities and they took care of everything else. Very long story short, the baby was going to go into foster care, become property of the state, but…” You pause, remember that feeling of dread at little Jonas being taken away from you. “It took me all of an hour with this little pudgy baby to know that I couldn’t let him go. Love at first sight, if there is such a thing. So I worked the system, proved myself to everyone who said I couldn’t take care of child as a single woman. I worked it for months, until he was about one year old and I finally adopted him officially. He hasn’t left my side since.” You smile fondly, “I’ve never loved anything like I love that little boy. He is the single greatest thing in my life. I fully intent to spend the rest of my life showing him that he’s loved.”

You lost yourself in your memories of that way Jonas lit up after seeing you again after the adoption went through. He had been taken to a foster home for the previous two months and it was hell for you. Seeing him not only recognize you but be excited to see you was everything you never knew you needed in life. When you looked up to Loki, he was staring at you with the most awe struck gaze you’ve ever seen. He seemed to be staring into your soul and some how looking right past you at the same time. His eyes are wet, tears glossing over his eyes, not quite over flowing. You wave your hand slightly in front of him and he doesn’t move. 

“Loki?” you ask softly, finally his eyes focus and he focuses on you again. Whatever he was thinking obviously left him a bit haunted. He shook his head. 

“Do you plan on telling him?” He asked you quietly. You’re taken aback, not expecting that question.

“I..” you pause, genuinely thinking about it. “Of course I do, I don’t plan keep it a secret. He knows something about it…I’m not quite sure what he understands, but I get the feeling he understands it on some level. As he gets older, I’ll tell him whatever he wants to know. It’s complicated and no matter how you talk about it, I think it will hurt him at least a little to hear the whole story.” You sigh again, “I don’t want to lie to him, but I don’t…don’t want him to ever feel…abandoned.”

Now you felt like you could cry too. A few tears tumble free and slide down you cheek.

Loki stands up and walks over to you, he gently lifts your chin before wiping your tears with his thumb. He smiles sadly at you before uttering two words that haunt your mind for days. His voice softer than you’ve ever heard, his words full of some sad, mysterious emotion. He then leaves the balcony, Looking back at you for a few seconds before slipping away. You’re forced to sit on the balcony a bit shell shocked by the whole exchange. 

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks


End file.
